Why did DCL decide not to have twin beds? About This Page:

[Wendyismyname]

So why is it on the Dream and Fantasy they didn't put in the queen beds that can convert to two twins?

I didn't like that at all when BettyBeBop and I sailed together. I got the queen and she slept on the couch. It just doesn't seem fair if you are sailing with a friend and you're both paying the same amount.....

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by Wendyismyname

So why is it on the Dream and Fantasy they didn't put in the queen beds that can convert to two twins?

I didn't like that at all when BettyBeBop and I sailed together. I got the queen and she slept on the couch. It just doesn't seem fair if you are sailing with a friend and you're both paying the same amount.....

I'd like to know this as well! When I did the Panama cruise with a friend on the Magic it was so convenient-- they just split the bed into twins with a small table between.

[Dave Marx]

They've never explained it, but I think there are a number of small factors that add up.

Some probably has to do with space saving and furniture design. The regular staterooms are about 4 square feet smaller than on the Magic and Wonder. They regain some of the sense of space by hanging the "night tables" on the wall (the floor below them becomes open space). Once they're hanging on the wall, they're pretty hard to move, and they must move easily if the beds are to be separated. This also allows them to make the headboard/wall unit specific to the queen bed layout, for whatever it's worth. Having built-ins means they can ( and have) installed lamps, electrical outlets and light switches in permanent locations up off the floor - that tends to be cheaper and safer long-term than running lamp cords, etc. across the floor to a wall outlet, and nicer for guests to have lighting controls and outlets right at their elbows.

Getting furniture off the floor also makes room cleaning more effective--raising the beds not only is a benefit for guests storing luggage, but also for staff at clean-up time.

Some may have to do with the cost of furniture - two beds, even if they're narrower, are more expensive than one bed of double the width, one mattress cheaper than two. No gap between the beds means none of those foam pads used to fill the gap... I can think of lots of little things like that that can add up.

If there are very few folks who need the beds separated, that presumably can balance the cost savings on one end to the lost business on the other end. With the number of families and couples cruising, I suspect the number of beds that get split is pretty low.

One large mattress is more comfy than two "bridged" smaller mattresses, and if the vast majority of guests are using the beds as queens, why not improve the comfort of the vast majority of guests?

They may have also decided to discourage room sharing by unrelated adults.

There are probably some time/labor savings involved. I'm not sure if they've assigned stateroom hosts/hostesses the same number of staterooms they care for on the Magic and Wonder, but by eliminating a particular kind of work, it can free up time so that a host/hostess can be assigned more rooms. This means fewer CMs relative to passengers. Reducing staffing on a per-passenger basis is one of the reasons all the cruise lines have been up-sizing their ships. The hosts/hostesses don't necessarily mind getting more staterooms, as long as the total work load is similar - more staterooms, more tips.

[PixieMichele]

Dave...you are quite intelligent...you should think about writing about travel for a living
While I understand it can be frustrated for friends traveling together, I must say....after our second to last trip on the Wonder I'm excited to get on the Dream and not have the one bar in-between the beds!
On that note, I suppose I can share my hilarious, yet equally humiliating bed experience!
I had the opportunity to take advantage of an amazing rate on DCL so my husband and I decided we were going (it was a 7-Night Mexican Riviera). My parents had never cruised before and my Dad was really looking for a break and Mom is always up for anything with the word "Disney" in it.
I had the great rate but I had to be in the room to get it (meaning we all had to share a room, we couldn't get 2 rooms and take advantage of the savings). We are very close to my parents and have traveled with them before so we weren't worried about sharing a room.
They INSISTED my husband and I take the queen bed, because my mom moves around a lot in her sleep and my Dad was looking forward to a nice stable mattress all to himself. Being the adventurer that he is, he took "the shelf" (upper berth) and mom was on the pull out below. They were happy as pigs in mud.

We pushed our suitcases under the bed, which required a little squishing (i'm so glad they raised the beds on the Dream!!!) to make more room. We would usually go and work out before dinner and then 2 would come back and shower/get ready in the stateroom, while the other 2 showered in the Vista Spa that way the stateroom wasn't over crowded and we weren't taking forever to all get ready for dinner. This was our brilliant plan and it was working great.

About the 3rd day of our trip, my husband and i were on the 'shower in the stateroom" shift and mom and dad were at the spa. Well....at some point after mouse-keeping came in i think the suitcase under the bed shifted and it hit the bar, or whatever it is keeping the 2 twin sized beds together and separated them.

Long story short...my parents come back in the room and the bed is being repaired by our stateroom host...who is red faced b/c he thinks we *broke* the bed and so did my parents!!!! It was SO embarassing and no matter how much we told them it was the suitcase that caused the bar to shift.... no one believed it and they insinuated that there was hanky panky that caused the break for the rest of the trip.
So embarrassing!

[Dave Marx]

Originally Posted by Wendyismyname

It just doesn't seem fair if you are sailing with a friend and you're both paying the same amount.....

On one of our first cruises on DCL (a 3-nighter) we shared a Cat. 9 stateroom with Jennifer's sister and brother-in-law. Of course, Jennifer and I insisted on taking the bunks, and it was just three nights. It was, "We'll take the bunks," "No, let us take the bunks," "No, we insist, we'll take the bunks!" Once that was settled (Jennifer's big sister, so she won), Jennifer and I had the same argument about the top and bottom bunks.

There's mom's voice in our heads, saying, "Share and share alike!" If two friends each have a twin bed, all seems fair. If one gets the queen and the other the lower berth, the person with the queen feels guilty. Yet nobody's been short-changed. The friend with the berth has no less room than he/she would have had with the queen split. It's a classic paradox. How can one person get more when the other gets no less?

AND... even if the queen was split, there's something to be said for taking the lower berth in order to have more personal space and the use of the privacy curtain (the way I snore, I should sleep on the verandah... on a different ship ). And there's nothing to prevent the roommates from switching beds half-way through the cruise. They can ask the stateroom host/hostess to change the bedding the day they switch - he/she's still doing a bit less work than if they'd had the beds split.

So yeah, that's the strategy. Switch beds! And if there's an odd number of nights, flip a coin, or buy the other a few drinks. (Wow, I feel like "Dear Davy!")

[Wendyismyname]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

AND... even if the queen was split, there's something to be said for taking the lower berth in order to have more personal space and the use of the privacy curtain (the way I snore, I should sleep on the verandah... on a different ship ). .

We actually did have the old argument about who was going to have what bed, but only once. BettySue insisted I take the queen and really, I couldn't argue.


All of that makes perfect sense to me. You said everything I thought would be the reason + more!

I adore the built ins. I really adore the wood the headboard is made out of. Absolutely beautiful!

[unewillow]

When I sailed in Sept with my mom we decided that I would take the Queen and she would take the fold out for a couple reasons.

1. She uses a CPAP and there was more room for the machine on the trunk next to the foldout (plus the outlet at the desk).

2. She's an early riser and could go out and sit on the veranda without having to walk past me or open the curtain and wake me up.

It all worked out and for 3 nights it wasn't a big deal. Any longer though and I would have offered to swap.

When we go next Sept for 5 nights on the Magic I will be on the fold out and my parents will take the bed.

[marisag]

At the unveiling of the Dream when they first announced it would only be queen beds we asked right away why they would do that. The president of DCL told us it was due to all the complaints they were getting about the bar inbetween the beds and the queen bed being uncomfortable. We mentioned that there would be people who were unhappy with this since some people would rather have the beds split but he said they figured this way would still make more people happy. He said according to their figures most people kept the bed as a queen anyway. He said if they got enough complaints they may consider twins again on the Fantasy but apparently that didn't happen since they have already announced the queens.

[dmpyron]

We got off the Carnival Magic last Sunday (Dec 11). The beds are the traditional two "sort of" twins jammed to make one "sort of" queen. They put a full length, full width foam pad, about 3/4" thick over the mattresses to even/bridge them. The "night stands" (if you can call a 1 sq ft surface a night stand) could be moved with the inboard one moved between the beds. But in this configuration I don't think having a floating night stand would have bought anything in the way of space.

But my Carnival BDM seems to be echoing the sentiment that most of the time the request is for "two together". To the point that about 15% of the balcony staterooms on the Dream class are "queen" only. Trend?

[Tink and co.]

I liked having the twins for my kids. We sailed with connecting staterooms and there weren't any "he's touching me" (always an issue in hotels) moments at bedtime! It was one of the kids' favorite thing about cruising. Everyone had their own bed!